The present invention relates generally to an exhaust treatment apparatus which treats exhaust discharged from an internal combustion engine when the engine is being tested.
At the time of manufacturing an internal combustion engine, a test for detecting assembly defects and the like is performed after predetermined stages. As this test is basically conducted while the internal combustion engine is running, it is necessary to treat exhaust gas discharged from the internal combustion engine. It is therefore typical to connect the internal combustion engine to be tested to an exhaust treatment apparatus for treating the exhaust gas from the engine via an exhaust manifold.
However, because the attachment and detachment of the exhaust manifold is generally done manually by a worker, conventional tests on internal combustion engines face an issue of low work efficiency. In addition, the exhaust manifold cannot be detached from the internal combustion engine until the heat from the exhaust manifold, which has become hot due to the exhaust gas from the internal combustion engine, has sufficiently discharged. To continuously conduct tests on multiple internal combustion engines on an assembly line in a factory, it is therefore necessary to prepare a plurality of exhaust manifolds and use the manifolds one after another. This inevitably increases the number of steps for attaching and detaching the exhaust manifolds and the cost for the manifolds.
Prior art documents pertinent to the present invention are Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Sho 63-38877/1988 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 10-239216. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Sho 63-38877 discloses a technique relating to a test on an internal combustion engine in a low-temperature test room but fails to disclose treatment for exhaust gas discharged from the internal combustion engine at the time the engine is tested. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 10-239216 merely discloses a technique relating to a fatigue test on an exhaust manifold that is used for an internal combustion engine, but fails to disclose a test on the internal combustion engine itself.